Bill That Would Change U.s. Immigration On Hold Mccollum: Delay In Hearings Will Kill Legislation Before Compromise Made

May 3, 1986|By Chris Reidy , Sentinel Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has postponed hearings on a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Rep. Bill McCollum, who is a member of the committee and has made the immigration issue a personal priority, said the delay greatly reduces the bill's chances of becoming law.

''I don't think there's any question that delay might kill this bill,'' said McCollum, an Altamonte Springs Republican, in a telephone interview from his district office Friday. ''Legislative maneuvering couldn't kill this bill, but delaying might.''

Rep. Peter Rodino Jr., D-N.J., the chairman, ordered the delay until June after Democrats on the committee requested a postponement. Hearings had been set for next week.

Committee members are trying to reach a compromise on how the bill should treat agricultural guest workers.

A full legislative calendar of difficult budget decisions, combined with the pressures of an election year, may mean the immigration bill will get lost in the shuffle, a prospect that may delight the bill's opponents, McCollum suggested.

Facing a primary challenge in June, Rodino may be forced to concentrate his efforts on his home district, McCollum said.

The Senate has passed an immigration bill three times, including one this session. The House passed its version in 1984. One has yet to be enacted into law.

Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale opposed the House bill in 1984; it died after a House-Senate conference was unable to reach agreement on a compromise measure.

The Simpson-Mazzoli bills -- named after their sponsors, the chairmen of judiciary subcommittees -- attempted to reduce the flow of illegal aliens into the United States. The bills proposed granting legal status, or amnesty, to some illegal aliens already residing in the United States.

In an effort to reduce the lure of jobs that brought illegals into the country, the bills also proposed criminal and civil sanctions for employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens.

Immigration reform was opposed by the leaders of some Hispanic groups. They claimed that it might aggravate job discrimination against some ethnic groups. The major labor unions argued that Simpson-Mazzoli might take jobs from native Americans. Agricultural interests in the Southwest, long dependent on an immigrant work force, also expressed uneasiness.

The Senate bill approved last year would allow American farmers to bring in 350,000 ''guest workers'' to harvest perishable crops. It is this issue, apparently, that has led to an impasse in the House Judiciary Committee.

The Reagan administration has endorsed immigration reform, but critics claim that the president has not lobbied for it vigorously.

Chances for the bill's passage were thought to be better in 1986 than in previous years. This optimism was fueled by Rodino's willingness to take a more active role in advocating immigration reform.